Method and device for communication

ABSTRACT

A system of communicating between first and second electronic devices, comprises, in a first device, receiving from a second device, voice representative information acquired by the second device, and connection information indicating characteristics of communication to be used in establishing a communication link with the second device. The system compares the voice representative information with predetermined reference voice representative information and in response to the comparison, establishes a communication link with the second device by using the connection information received from the second device.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2013-0085685, filed on Jul. 19, 2013, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in itsentirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

A system concerns establishing a communication link between devices byusing speaker voice information, for example.

2. Description of the Related Art

Voice recognition technology allows a user to control a use of a desireddevice or a desired information service by using a voice instead of amouse or a keyboard. Voice recognition technology was first introducedin the 1950s and has been developed. However, due to a low voicerecognition rate, voice recognition technology was not popularized untilthe mid 2000s.

Meanwhile, voice recognition-related technologies that have been limitedto use for particular purposes are being used in portable computingterminals including smartphones and within cloud-relatedinfrastructures.

Known systems fail to make comprehensive use of voice recognition tofacilitate user friendly interaction and a user friendly interface.

SUMMARY

A system employs a communication method for facilitating establishing acommunication link between devices in response to raw voice input of aspeaker and transmits and receives data via the establishedcommunication link. The system A system of communicating between firstand second electronic devices, comprises, in a first device, receivingfrom a second device, voice representative information acquired by thesecond device, and connection information indicating characteristics ofcommunication to be used in establishing a communication link with thesecond device. The system compares the voice representative informationwith predetermined reference voice representative information and inresponse to the comparison, establishes a communication link with thesecond device by using the connection information received from thesecond device.

In a feature, the system receiving step comprises receiving a soundsignal comprising the voice representative information and theconnection information via a microphone of the first device.

The voice representative information and the connection information ofthe second device are inserted into at least one of an inaudible rangeand an audible range of the sound signal and are broadcast by the seconddevice. The receiving comprises receiving the voice representativeinformation and the connection information of the second device via atleast one of, short range communication and mobile communication.

In another feature, the voice representative information comprises atleast one of identification (ID) information of the first device,control information for controlling the first device, and controlinformation for controlling the first device and the second device. Thereceiving of the voice representative information comprises receiving atleast one of a data representing raw voice representative informationand voice feature information that is extracted from the raw voicerepresentative information. The comparing comprises determining whethera similarity between the voice representative information and thereference voice representative information is equal to or greater than apredetermined value. When the similarity is equal to or greater than thepredetermined value, the establishing comprises establishing thecommunication link with the second device, based on the connectioninformation of the second device. When the similarity is less than thepredetermined value, broadcasting the voice representative informationreceived from the second device. The connection information of thesecond device comprises at least one of, ID (identifier) information ofthe second device, capability information of the second device, stateinformation of the second device, information identifying acommunication method preferred by the second device, and service IDinformation.

In another feature, establishing comprises transmitting a connectionrequest to the second device; and receiving an acceptance message inresponse to the connection request. The system receives, from the seconddevice, control information that is extracted from the voicerepresentative information; and performs a function in response to thecontrol information. The control information comprises at least one of acontrol command to acquire content, a control command to transmitcontent, a control command to transmit position information, a controlcommand to synchronize a plurality of pieces of data, a control commandto switch a mode, and a control command to perform screen-mirroring. Thesystem switches a screen lock mode of the first device to a screenunlock mode in response to the comparison.

In yet another feature, a method of communicating between first andsecond electronic devices, comprises in a second device, acquiring voicerepresentative information; broadcasting the voice representativeinformation and connection information of the second device indicatingcharacteristics of communication to be used in establishing acommunication link with the second device; receiving a communicationconnection request from the first device that has received the voicerepresentative information and the connection information, from thesecond device; and establishing a communication link with the firstdevice, in response to the connection request and the characteristics ofcommunication. The broadcasting comprises periodically broadcasting asound signal comprising the voice representative information and theconnection information of the second device and by inserting the voicerepresentative information and the connection information of the seconddevice into at least one of an inaudible range and an audible range ofthe sound signal. The broadcasting comprises broadcasting the voicerepresentative information and the connection information of the seconddevice via at least one of short range communication and mobilecommunication.

In another feature the obtaining comprises receiving raw voicerepresentative information via a microphone of the second device; andanalyzing the raw voice representative information and extracting voicefeature information from the raw voice representative information. Thebroadcasting comprises broadcasting at least one of raw voicerepresentative information and the voice feature information extractedfrom the raw voice. The receiving comprises receiving the connectionrequest from the first device in response to a result of comparing, bythe first device, the voice representative information with referencevoice representative information that is stored in the first device. Thesystem extracts control information from the voice representativeinformation; and transmits the control information to the first device.The system also performs a function in response to the controlinformation via the communication link by transmitting content to thefirst device via the communication link, wherein the content isdisplayed on a screen of the second device when the voice representativeinformation is obtained.

In yet another feature a system includes a first device thatcommunicates with a second device. The first device comprises acommunication unit for receiving voice representative information thatis obtained by the second device, and connection information indicatingcharacteristics of communication to be used in establishing acommunication link with the second device, from the second device. Acontrol unit compares the voice representative information withpre-stored reference voice representative information, and in responseto the comparison, establishes a communication link with the seconddevice by using the connection information received from the seconddevice. The communication unit comprises a microphone for receiving asound signal comprising the voice representative information and theconnection information of the second device.

In a further feature, the control unit comprises a sensor hub connectedwith the microphone of the first device, and an application processor,wherein the sensor hub compares the voice representative informationwith pre-stored reference voice representative information, and switchesa sleep mode of the application processor to a wake-up mode in responseto the comparison, and wherein the application processor in the wake-upmode controls the communication unit to establish a communication linkwith the second device by using the connection information of the seconddevice. The communication unit comprises a short range communicationunit for receiving the voice representative information and theconnection information of the second device via short rangecommunication. When a similarity between the voice representativeinformation and the reference voice representative information is equalto or greater than a predetermined value, the control unit establishesthe communication link with the second device by using the connectioninformation of the second device. When the similarity between the voicerepresentative information and the reference voice representativeinformation is less than the predetermined value, the control unitcontrols the communication unit to broadcast the voice representativeinformation received from the second device. The communication unitreceives, from the second device, control information that is extractedfrom the voice representative information, and wherein the control unitperforms a function that corresponds to the control information.

In yet a further feature, a second device communicates with a firstdevice. The second device comprises a microphone for receiving raw voicerepresentative information; a voice recognition unit obtains voicerepresentative information by analyzing the raw voice representativeinformation; a communication unit broadcasts the voice representativeinformation and connection information indicating characteristics ofcommunication to be used in establishing a communication link with thesecond device, from the second device, and receives a connection requestfrom the first device that has received the voice representativeinformation and the connection information. A control unit establishes acommunication link with the first device, in response to the connectionrequest and the characteristics of communication. A non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program forexecuting the method of claim 1, by using a computer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readilyappreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a communication system according to invention principles;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a method for communication used by a seconddevice, according to invention principles;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method used by a second device for extractingcontrol information from speaker's voice information, according toinvention principles;

FIG. 4 shows a command database according to invention principles;

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B and FIG. 5C show displayed windows indicating a seconddevice broadcasts speaker's voice information, according to inventionprinciples;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method performed of communication, accordingto invention principles;

FIG. 7 shows a method, performed by the first device, of performingspeaker dependent recognition, according to invention principles;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for establishing, by the first deviceand the second device, a communication link for exchanging data viasound communication, according to invention principles;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method for establishing, by the first deviceand the second device, a communication link for exchanging data viaBluetooth low energy (BLE) communication, according to inventionprinciples;

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B illustrate a first device scanning a second devicebased on a value of a magnetic sensor, according to inventionprinciples;

FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B illustrate a first device scanning a second devicebased on a value of an RGB sensor, according to invention principles;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method of establishing, by the first deviceand the second device, a communication link for exchanging data viasound communication and BLE communication, according to inventionprinciples;

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B are a first device scanning the second devicebased on speaker dependent recognition, according to inventionprinciples;

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B are flowcharts of a method of establishing, by thefirst device and the second device, a communication link by using anout-of-band (00B) method, according to invention principles;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a method, performed by the second device, ofextracting control information from speaker's voice information andperforming a function that corresponds to the control information,according to invention principles;

FIG. 16A, FIG. 16B and FIG. 16C show the first device and the seconddevice performing a function associated with control information,according to invention principles;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a method of broadcasting voice informationwhen the first device fails to perform speaker dependent recognition,according to invention principles;

FIG. 18 illustrates a speaker searching for a particular device by usingvoice information according to invention principles;

FIG. 19 and FIG. 20 show a structure of the first device according toembodiments of the present invention according to invention principles;

FIG. 21 shows a data communication protocol of a seamless sensingplatform (SSP) related to an embodiment of the present inventionaccording to invention principles; and

FIG. 22 shows a structure of the second device, according to inventionprinciples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

All terms including descriptive or technical terms which are used hereinshould be construed as having meanings that are obvious to one ofordinary skill in the art. However, the terms may have differentmeanings according to an intention of one of ordinary skill in the art,precedent cases, or the appearance of new technologies. Also, some termsmay be arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in this case, themeaning of the selected terms will be described in detail in thedetailed description of the invention. Thus, the terms used herein haveto be defined based on the meaning of the terms together with thedescription throughout the specification.

Also, when a part “includes” or “comprises” an element, unless there isa particular description contrary thereto, the part may further includeother elements, not excluding the other elements. In the followingdescription, terms such as “unit” and “module” indicate a unit forprocessing at least one function or operation, wherein the unit and theblock may be embodied as hardware or software or may be embodied bycombining hardware and software.

Throughout the specification, a communication method of transmitting(e.g., broadcast, output, or transmission) or receiving information mayinclude at least one of a short range communication method and a mobilecommunication method.

Also, throughout the specification, the short range communication mayinclude not only transmission or reception of a radio frequency (RF)signal but also include transmission or reception of a sound signal. Forexample, the short range communication may include, but is not limitedto, at least one of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi Direct (WFD), ultrawideband (UWB), infrared data association (IrDA), Bluetooth low energy(BLE), near field communication (NFC), Ant+, and sound communication.

Wi-Fi may include an infrastructure mode in which an access point (AP)that transmits a wireless signal exchanges data with a plurality ofterminals (e.g., a PC, for example) within a predetermined range aroundthe AP, and an ad-hoc mode in which terminals mutually exchange data ina peer-to-peer (P2P) way without the AP.

Bluetooth is a standard technology for wireless communication devicesthat perform wireless communication therebetween within a short range,by using low power. UWB is a wireless communication technology used totransmit a large amount of data in a short period via a large spectrumfrequency, by using low power.

WFD is a new version of Wi-Fi technology and is mainly characterized inthat it incorporates direct communication between devices. For example,according to WFD, although there is not a hotspot, a router, or an AP,if the devices use WFD, the devices may communicate with each other andthus may share information therebetween.

ZigBee is one of the IEEE 802.15.4 standards that support short-rangewireless communication. ZigBee is a technology for short-range wirelesscommunication within a distance of 10-20 m and ubiquitous computing in awireless networking environment such as one that is established in ahouse or an office.

BLE refers to a core function of Bluetooth v. 4.0 that is one of theshort range communication technologies. BLE has a relatively small dutycycle compared to a classic Bluetooth specification, may be produced atlow costs, and may operate for several years with a coin-sized batterydue to reduced mean power and standby power.

NFC, which is a sort of radio frequency ID (RFID) or electronic tag,refers to a non-contact short range wireless communication using afrequency band of 13.56 MHz. NFC enables data communication betweendevices at a distance of 10 cm through a short range wirelesscommunication technology. NFC may include a P2P mode, a reader/writer(R/W) mode, and a card emulation mode. Ant+ signifies a wirelesscommunication technology with low power consumption and for a shortrange by using a frequency band of 2.4 GHz.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions arenot described in detail since they would obscure the one or moreembodiments of the invention with unnecessary detail, and like referencenumerals in the drawings denote like or similar elements throughout thespecification.

As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations ofone or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “atleast one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire listof elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a communication system according toinvention principles.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the communication system may include a firstdevice 100 and a second device 200. Throughout the specification, thefirst device 100 may be an observer that receives a signal orinformation which is broadcast (or transmitted) by an external device,and the second device 200 may be a broadcaster that advertises (ortransmits) its own identification (ID) information. Hereinafter, thefirst device 100 and the second device 200 are respectively describedbelow.

The first device 100 may include at least one communication unit forcommunicating with an external device. For example, the first device 100may include, but is not limited to, a short range communication unit(for example, a BLE communication unit, a WFD communication unit, forexample), a mobile communication unit (for example, 2G, 3G, 4G, forexample), and a microphone for receiving a sound signal.

The first device 100 may receive a signal that is transmitted by thesecond device 200, by using the at least one communication unit. Forexample, the first device 100 may receive a sound signal that is outputfrom the second device 200 via the microphone. The first device 100 mayalso receive an advertising packet that is broadcast via BLEcommunication.

The first device 100 may scan the second device 200 by analyzing thesignal that is transmitted by the second device 200. For example, thefirst device 100 may receive speaker's voice information andcommunication connection information of the second device 200, which arebroadcast by the second device 200. The first device 100 may performspeaker dependent recognition in which the speaker's voice informationis compared with reference voice information of a particular speaker.The speaker dependent recognition performed by the first device 100 willbe described in detail with reference to FIG. 7.

The first device 100 may analyze the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 which is broadcast by the seconddevice 200, so that the first device 100 may recognize ID information ofthe second device 200, capability information about a communicationmethod that is supported by the second device 200, information about acommunication method that is preferred by the second device 200, stateinformation of the second device 200, service ID information of thesecond device 200, for example.

The first device 100 may automatically scan the second device 200 inresponse to a predetermined event (e.g., a value of a magnetic sensor isequal to or greater than a predetermined value), although a user doesnot separately request a scan of the second device 200. The first device100 may include a seamless sensing platform (SSP) that operatesseparately from an application processor. Here, the first device 100 mayconnect a sensing unit or a communication unit (e.g., the microphone,the BLE communication unit, for example) to a sensor hub of the SSP. Thesensor hub of the SSP may recognize an inner condition of the firstdevice 100 and ambient conditions around the first device 100 bycollecting sensing information or scanning the second device 200,without waking up the AP from a sleep mode. The sensor hub may beembodied as hardware or software or may be embodied by combininghardware and software. For example, the sensor hub may include a microcontroller unit (MCU).

The sensor hub of the SSP may wake up the AP in the sleep mode when apredetermined situation occurs (e.g., the speaker dependent recognitionis successfully performed). In this case, the AP may receive currentstatus information from the sensor hub, and may demodulate modulateddata or may perform a control command. The SSP will be described indetail with reference to FIG. 22.

The first device 100 may be embodied in various forms. For example, thefirst device 100 may be, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, asmartphone, a laptop computer, a tablet PC, an E-book device, a digitalbroadcasting terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portablemultimedia player (PMP), a navigation device, an MP3 player, a digitalcamera, a wristwatch, and consumer electronics (CE) devices (e.g., arefrigerator, an air-conditioner, a water purifier, for example) thatinclude a microphone and a sound output device.

The second device 200 may receive a speaker's raw voice input via amicrophone and may perform speaker independent recognition so as torecognize speaking of a random speaker. The second device 200 mayadvertise the communication connection information, including IDinformation of the second device 200, the capability information aboutthe communication method that is supported by the second device 200, forexample, by using at least one communication method. Here, the at leastone communication method may include the short range communicationmethod or the mobile communication method. The short range communicationmethod may include, but is not limited to, at least one of a BLEcommunication method, an Ant+ communication method, an NFC method, asound communication method, a ZigBee communication method, and a Wi-Ficommunication method (e.g., a wireless LAN or WiFi Direct), and themobile communication method may include, but is not limited to, 3G andlongterm evolution (LTE) methods.

The sound communication method means a communication method oftransmitting and receiving data by using a sound signal. For example,the second device 200 may broadcast data to the outside by inserting thedata into an inaudible range or audible range (e.g., into music orannouncement broadcasting) of the sound signal. Also, the second device200 may down-convert a voice signal having a high frequency band into avoice signal having a relatively low frequency band (e.g., a band equalto or less than 16 kHz), and may broadcast the down-converted voicesignal.

The second device 200 may be a display device including a screen or anaccessory device having no screen. For example, the second device 200may be, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a laptopcomputer, a tablet PC, an E-book device, a digital broadcastingterminal, a PDA, a PMP, a display device, a navigation device, an MP3player, a digital camera, a smart TV, a wireless speaker, a Bluetoothheadset, a home sync, a refrigerator with a communication function, anair-conditioner, and a water purifier.

The second device 200 may include a communication unit so as tocommunicate with the first device 100. For example, the second device200 may include, but is not limited to including, a short rangecommunication unit (e.g., a Bluetooth communication unit, a BLEcommunication unit, an NFC/RFID unit, a WLAN (Wi-Fi) communication unit,a ZigBee communication unit, an IrDA communication unit, a WFDcommunication unit, a UWB communication unit, an Ant+ communicationunit, for example), a mobile communication unit (e.g., 2G, 3G, and 4G),a sound output unit, a microphone, and a display unit.

Hereinafter, a process in which the second device 200 establishes acommunication link with the first device 100 by broadcasting (ortransmitting) speaker's voice information and communication connectioninformation by using at least one communication method will be describedbelow in detail with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of acommunication method performed by the second device 200, according toinvention principles.

In operation S210, the second device 200 may obtain speaker's voiceinformation via a microphone. In the present embodiment, the speaker'svoice information may be a raw voice that is input by a speaker or maybe voice feature information extracted from the raw voice that is inputby the speaker. The second device 200 may perform speaker independentrecognition on the raw voice that is input by the speaker. For example,the second device 200 may recognize the raw voice that is input by thespeaker, regardless of a voice tone, a pronunciation, an accent, forexample of the speaker. The second device 200 may detect an end pointfrom the input raw voice. The end point detection means detects a startand end of a recognition target period from the raw voice, which is arecognition target. When the second device 200 detects the period of therecognition target via the end point detection, the second device 200may remove a noise component and may extract a voice feature from therecognition target period of the recognition target. The second device200 may compare the extracted voice feature with a voice database andmay output a particular expression as a recognition result, or mayoutput a particular sentence as a recognition result by using a languagemodel.

In operation S220, the second device 200 may broadcast (or transmit) thespeaker's voice information and communication connection information ofthe second device 200. Here, the second device 200 may broadcast the rawvoice that is input by the speaker or may broadcast the voice featureinformation extracted from the raw voice that is input by the speaker.The communication connection information of the second device 200 maymean information that an external device may use so as to request thesecond device 200 for communication connection. For example, thecommunication connection information of the second device 200 mayinclude, but is not limited to, ID information of the second device 200,capability information of the second device 200, information about acommunication method that is preferred by the second device 200, stateinformation of the second device 200, and service ID information of thesecond device 200.

The ID information may be unique information for identifying the seconddevice 200, and may include a media access control (MAC) address, adevice ID, a device name, a product serial number, a nickname, forexample. The capability information relates to a function supported bythe second device 200 and may include, for example, but is not limitedto including, information about supported communication methods (e.g.,BLE, Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi, for example), information about a mountedsensor (e.g., a magnetic sensor, an accelerometer sensor, a temperaturesensor, a gyroscope sensor, a proximity sensor, for example), andinformation about available services (e.g., universal plug and play(UPnP), digital living network alliance (DLNA), for example). The stateinformation is information indicating a current state of the seconddevice 200 and may include, for example, but is not limited toincluding, information about an active or inactive state of acommunication unit, information about an active or inactive state of asensor, and information about a mode set on the second device 200 (e.g.,a lock mode, an operation mode, a vibration mode, an automatic screenrotation mode, a sync mode, for example).

The service ID information may be unique information for identifying aservice that the second device 200 attempts to receive via communicationconnection. For example, the service ID information may include anidentifier indicating a service including a content sharing service, agame service, a chatting service, an identifier indicating anapplication, a program, which are used in the communication connection.

The service ID information may correspond to a particular communicationconnection service. Service information including an application, acommunication method, a protocol, for example, which are used for theparticular communication connection service may be previously set orappointed while the service information is mapped with the service IDinformation. Here, the service information (e.g., the communicationconnection service indicated by the service ID information) thatcorresponds to the service ID information may be previously stored inmemories of devices (e.g., the first device 100 and the second device200) that participate in the communication connection service.

The information about a preferred communication method may meaninformation about a priority order of communication methods that arepreferred by the second device 200. For example, the second device 200may prefer a Bluetooth communication method the most, and may prefer aWFD communication method the second-most. The second device 200 maybroadcast (e.g. an output or transmission) a sound signal to the outsidevia a speaker, wherein the speaker's voice information and thecommunication connection information of the second device 200 areinserted into the sound signal. For example, the second device 200 mayinsert the speaker's voice information and the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 into an inaudible range or anaudible range of the sound signal. The second device 200 may convert(e.g., down-convert) a frequency band of the sound signal includingvoice information into a relatively low frequency broadband. Forexample, when a sensor hub (e.g., the MCU) to which the microphone ofthe first device 100 is connected can only process a voice signal below16 kHz, the second device 200 may down-convert a voice signal, which isinserted in the range of about 16 kHz to about 21 kHz, into a voicesignal having a band below 16 kHz.

The second device 200 may process advertisement information includingthe speaker's voice information and the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 in the form of an advertisingpacket, and may broadcast the advertisement information to the outsideby using the BLE communication unit. A data packet of the advertisementinformation that is broadcast to the outside may include, but is notlimited to, an ID information field (e.g., Name Type 'GT-I9400)indicating the ID information of the second device 200, a manufacturerfield (e.g., Company ID 0X0075) indicating a manufacturer thatmanufactured the second device 200, a protocol field (e.g., 0X0201)indicating a protocol used by the second device 200, a capability fieldindicating a communication method supported by the second device 200, astate field indicating a current state of the second device 200, and avoice information field to which the voice information obtained by thesecond device 200 is inserted.

When the second device 200 includes a short range wireless communicationtag (hereinafter, referred to as ‘NFC tag’), the second device 200 mayencode the advertisement information in a NFC data exchange format(NDEF). Afterward, the second device 200 may store the advertisementinformation that is encoded in NDEF in the NFC tag. Here, when the firstdevice 100 approaches within a short range wireless communication rangeof the second device 200, the advertisement information that is storedin the NFC tag of the second device 200 may be transmitted to the firstdevice 100.

The second device 200 may sequentially broadcast advertisementinformation through the communication methods. The second device 200 maysequentially broadcast advertisement information according to apredetermined order. The predetermined order may be set by a user or asystem and may be changed by the user or the system. The predeterminedorder may be set in the order having the least power consumption or theshortest latency. The latency signifies a delay time in communicatingsignals between a sender and a receiver. For example, the second device200 may determine the order of a communication method for broadcastingadvertisement information to the outside in the order of the BLEcommunication method, the Ant+ communication method, the NFC method, andthe sound communication method.

The second device 200 may modulate at least one of the speaker's voiceinformation and the communication connection information of the seconddevice 200. The second device 200 may broadcast the modulated data. Forexample, the second device 200 may broadcast the voice information thatis not modulated and the modulated communication connection informationof the second device 200 to the outside. Also, the second device 200 maymodulate the voice information (e.g., the voice feature information) andthe communication connection information of the second device 200 andmay broadcast them to the outside. For information security, the seconddevice 200 may encrypt the advertisement information by using a pre-setencryption code and may broadcast the encrypted advertisementinformation to the outside. Also, the second device 200 may broadcastthe speaker's voice information and the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 at a predetermined cycle. Thepredetermined cycle may be adjusted by the second device 200 or a user.

In operation S230, the second device 200 may receive a communicationconnection request from the first device 100, based on the communicationconnection information of the second device 200. For example, the seconddevice 200 may receive an advertising packet including the IDinformation of the first device 100, the capability information of thefirst device 100, the information about a preferred communication methodof the first device 100, for example from the first device 100, or mayreceive a connection request or a negotiation request from the firstdevice 100. In response to a result of comparing the speaker's voiceinformation with the reference voice information that is previouslystored in the first device 100, the first device 100 may transmit thecommunication connection request to the second device 200. This processwill be described in detail with reference to FIG. 6.

In operation S240, the second device 200 may establish a communicationlink with the first device 100, in response to the communicationconnection request. Throughout the specification, the expression‘establish a communication link’ means that the first device 100 and thesecond device 200 are in a state to exchange data by using at least onecommunication method. The communication link may include, but is notlimited to, a BLE communication link, a sound communication link, aBluetooth communication link, and a Wi-Fi communication link. A processin which the first device 100 establishes a communication link will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 6. The communication link maybe formed by using a communication method equal to a communicationmethod of receiving the advertisement information that is broadcast bythe second device 200, or may be formed by using a communication method(e.g., an out-of-band (00B) method) that is different from thecommunication method of receiving the advertisement information. Forexample, when the first device 100 receives the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200, which is broadcast by the seconddevice 200, via BLE communication, the first device 100 may establishthe communication link by using the same BLE communication method or mayestablish the communication link by using a WFD communication methodthat is different from the BLE communication. A process in which thecommunication link is established by using the OOB method will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 14.

The communication link may be a non-connection type virtualcommunication link by which the first device 100 and the second device200 exchange the advertising packet by scanning each other, or may be aconnection type communication link in which a session is formed by thecommunication connection request from the first device 100. The seconddevice 200 may exchange content with the first device 100 via thecommunication link. Throughout the specification, the term “content”means digital information that is provided via a wired or wirelesscommunication network. The content may include, but is not limited to,moving picture content (e.g., a TV program image, video-on-demand (VOD),a personal image such as User-Created Contents (UCC), a music video, aYoutube video, for example), still image content (e.g., a photo, apicture, for example), text content (e.g., an electronic book (poetry,novels, for example), a letter, a work file, a web page, for example),music content (for example, music, radio broadcasting, for example), andan application (a widget, a game, videotelephony, for example).

The second device 200 may encode data of a partial period of reproducedcontent, the second device 200 may transmit the encoded data to thefirst device 100. Here, the second device 200 may encode the data byusing various encoding algorithms. For example, the encoding algorithmsmay include, but is not limited to, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, and AVC. Anorder of operations S210 through S240 may be changed or some operationsmay be skipped. Hereinafter, a process, in which the second device 200extracts control information from the speaker's voice information thatis obtained via the microphone, is described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of amethod, performed by the second device 200, of extracting controlinformation from speaker's voice information. In operation S310, thesecond device 200 may detect the occurrence of a predetermined event.Here, the predetermined event may indicate an event that activates amicrophone in an inactive state. Also, the predetermined event mayindicate an event that informs the second device 200, a start of aspeaker's raw voice input.

A predetermined event may be an event comprising selection of apredetermined button. Here, the predetermined button may be a button inthe form of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) displayed on a screen ormay be a button that is physically attached on the second device 200. Anexample of the predetermined event may include an event that executes anapplication. In operation S320, the second device 200 may receive thespeaker's raw voice input via the microphone. Also, the second device200 may obtain speaker's voice information by performing speakerindependent recognition on the speaker's raw voice input. For example,the second device 200 may detect an end point of a speaker's voice andmay extract a voice feature from the speaker's voice. The second device200 may change the speaker's voice into a particular expression or aparticular sentence by using the voice feature. Since operation S320corresponds to operation S210 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, detaileddescriptions thereof are omitted here.

In operation S330, the second device 200 may extract control informationfrom the speaker's voice information. The speaker's raw voice input mayinclude ID information of the first device 100, and the controlinformation for controlling at least one of the first device 100 and thesecond device 200. The ID information of the first device 100, includedin the speaker's raw voice input, may be a name of the first device 100,which is set by a speaker. For example, the ID information of the firstdevice 100 may include a device name, a nickname (e.g., Tom's phone, forexample). The ID information of the first device 100, included in thespeaker's raw voice input, may be stored in a memory of the first device100. The control information may include a command to control at leastone of the first device 100 and the second device 200. For example, thecontrol information may include a command 410 including ‘receive’,‘send’, ‘set’, ‘pair’ or ‘sync’. This is shown in FIG. 4.

The second device 200 may extract the control information included inthe speaker's voice information by comparing the speaker's voiceinformation with a command database (DB) 400. For example, in a casewhere a command ‘receive’ is pre-defined in the command DB 400, when auser inputs a voice of ‘the first device 100, receive this’, the seconddevice 200 may compare the command DB 400 with voice information that isinput by the user, and may extract control information including‘receive’. Here, the control information including ‘receive’ indicates acommand that commands the first device 100 to receive content from thesecond device 200, so that the second device 200 may convert the controlinformation, including ‘receive’, into a control command that commandspreparation of transmission of the content.

In operation S340, the second device 200 may broadcast the speaker'svoice information, the control information, and communication connectioninformation of the second device 200. The second device 200 maybroadcast the speaker's voice information, the control information, andthe communication connection information of the second device 200 viasound communication (e.g., by using at least one of an inaudible rangeand an audible range of a sound signal), and short range communication(e.g., BLE communication, Ant+ communication, NFC communication, forexample). Descriptions of a method, performed by the second device 200,of broadcasting the advertisement information, are the same asdescriptions about operation S220 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, andthus are omitted here.

The second device 200 may modulate the control information and thecommunication connection information and may broadcast them. Also, thesecond device 200 may modulate the speaker's voice information, thecontrol information, and the communication connection information of thesecond device 200 and may broadcast them. With reference to FIG. 5, anexample in which the second device 200 broadcasts the speaker's voiceinformation, the control information, and the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 will now be described.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example in which the second device 200 broadcastsspeaker's voice information. As illustrated in FIG. 5( a), movingpicture content 510 may be reproduced by the second device 200. In acase where a user (Cheolsoo) of the first device 100 attempts totransmit the moving picture content 510, which is reproduced by thesecond device 200, to the first device 100, the user (Cheolsoo) of thefirst device 100 may touch a button 520 having a microphone formdisplayed on a screen of the second device 200. The second device 200may be switched to a state in which a speaker may input a voice. Asillustrated in FIG. 5( b), the user (Cheolsoo) of the first device 100may input a voice sequence 530 into the second device 200 by using amicrophone of the second device 200. For example, the user (Cheolsoo) ofthe first device 100 may input voice data of “Cheolsoo's phone, receive”to the second device 200 by using the microphone of the second device200. The second device 200 may recognize the voice of the speaker.

As illustrated in FIG. 5( c), the second device 200 may broadcast bothvoice information, which is obtained from the user (Cheolsoo) of thefirst device 100, and the communication connection information of thesecond device 200. Here, the second device 200 may broadcast a raw voicethat is input by the user (Cheolsoo) of the first device 100.Alternatively, the second device 200 may broadcast voice featureinformation that is extracted from the voice that is input by the user(Cheolsoo) of the first device 100. The second device 200 may display anexpression or a sentence, which is recognized via the voice, on thescreen. For example, the second device 200 may display the sentence“Cheolsoo's phone, receive” on the screen. In this case, the speaker maycheck whether the speaker's voice is correctly input, and if the voiceis not correctly recognized, the speaker may input a voice again. Thesecond device 200 may extract the control information from the speaker'svoice information, and may broadcast the extracted control information,the speaker's voice information, and the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200. For example, the second device 200may compare the voice information (‘Cheolsoo's phone, receive’) obtainedfrom the speaker with the command DB 400, and may extract the controlinformation including ‘receive’. Afterward, the second device 200 maymodulate and insert the control information including ‘receive’ into thesound signal, and may broadcast the sound signal including the controlinformation.

A method of establishing a communication link with the second device200, wherein the method is performed by the first device 100 thatreceives voice information broadcast from the second device 200, willnow be described in detail with reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a communication method performed by the firstdevice 100. In operation S610, the first device 100 may receivespeaker's voice information that is obtained via a microphone of thesecond device 200, and communication connection information of thesecond device 200 from the second device 200. The first device 100 mayreceive a sound signal, including the speaker's voice information andthe communication connection information of the second device 200, fromthe second device 200, by using a microphone of the first device 100.This process will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 8. Thefirst device 100 may receive the speaker's voice information and thecommunication connection information of the second device 200 via shortrange communication. For example, the first device 100 may receive thespeaker's voice information and the communication connection informationof the second device 200 by using at least one of BLE communication,Ant+ communication, NFC, and ZigBee. This process will be described indetail with reference to FIG. 9.

The first device 100 may receive a speaker's raw voice from the seconddevice 200 or may receive, from the second device 200, voice featureinformation that is extracted from the speaker's raw voice. The firstdevice 100 may receive modulated speaker's voice information ormodulated communication connection information of the second device 200.In operation S620, the first device 100 may compare the speaker's voiceinformation with reference voice information that is previously storedin the first device 100. The reference voice information may indicateinformation about a predetermined expression that a user of the firstdevice 100 previously trained by using a user's own voice so as toperform speaker independent recognition. The first device 100 maydetermine whether a similarity between the reference voice informationand the speaker's voice information that is received from the seconddevice 200 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Forexample, the first device 100 may determine whether the similaritybetween the reference voice information and the speaker's voiceinformation that is received from the second device 200 is at leastabout 97%.

When the similarity between the reference voice information and thespeaker's voice information that is received from the second device 200is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the first device100 may determine that a use of the first device 100 or a user of thefirst device 100 is authorized. The user of the first device 100 mayinput a predetermined expression by using the user's own voice, and bydoing so, the user may obtain a result similar to a case in which theuser inputs a pre-set password or a pre-set pattern to the first device100. This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 7.

In operation S630, the first device 100 may establish the communicationlink with the second device 200, in response to a result of comparingthe reference voice information and the speaker's voice information thatis received from the second device 200. When the similarity between thereference voice information and the speaker's voice information that isreceived from the second device 200 is equal to or greater than thepredetermined value (e.g., about at least about 97%), the first device100 may establish the communication link with the second device 200based on the communication connection information of the second device200.

For example, the first device 100 may transmit a communicationconnection request to the second device 200, based on ID information(e.g., a MAC address) of the second device 200, capability information(e.g., a support of BLE, Bluetooth, Ant+, Wi-Fi, NFC) of the seconddevice 200, state information (e.g., Wi-Fi off/Bluetooth on) of thesecond device 200, information about a communication method (e.g.,Bluetooth) that is preferred by the second device 200, or service IDinformation (e.g., an identifier indicating a service such as a contentsharing service, a game service, a chatting service, an identifierindicating an application, a program used in the communicationconnection). The first device 100 may receive an acceptance message fromthe second device 200 in response to the communication connectionrequest, and may establish the communication link with the second device200.

The communication link may be a non-connection type virtualcommunication link by which the first device 100 and the second device200 exchange an advertising packet by scanning each other, or may be abidirectional connection type communication link in which a session isformed by the communication connection request from the first device100. The communication link may include, but is not limited to, a BLEcommunication link, a sound communication link, a Bluetoothcommunication link, and a Wi-Fi communication link. When the similaritybetween the reference voice information and the speaker's voiceinformation that is received from the second device 200 is less than thepredetermined value (e.g., about at least about 97%), the first device100 may broadcast again the speaker's voice information that is receivedfrom the second device 200. For example, when the similarity between thereference voice information and the speaker's voice information that isreceived from the second device 200 is about 10%, the first device 100may broadcast the speaker's voice information to the outside. Inresponse to the result of comparing the reference voice information andthe speaker's voice information that is received from the second device200, the first device 100 may switch a screen lock mode into a screenunlock mode. In this case, the first device 100 may automaticallydisplay content, which is received from the second device 200, on itsscreen.

Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 7, a method, performed by the firstdevice 100, of performing speaker dependent recognition, will now bedescribed in detail. FIG. 7 illustrates a method, performed by the firstdevice 100, of performing speaker dependent recognition. It is assumedthat a user of the first device 100 inputs a raw voice via a microphoneof the second device 200. When the first device 100 and the seconddevice 200 are positioned within a short distance of each other, thefirst device 100 may directly receive the raw voice of the user of thefirst device 100, which is input to the microphone of the second device200, via the microphone of the second device 200.

In this case, the first device 100 may compare a pre-stored referencevoice with the raw voice of the user of the first device 100, which isdirectly received by the first device 100. For example, the first device100 may detect a recognition target period of the raw voice byperforming end point detection, and may extract a feature (or a pattern)of the raw voice from the recognition target period. When the feature(or the pattern) of the raw voice matches a feature (or a pattern) ofthe reference voice, the first device 100 may perform a pre-setoperation. For example, the first device 100 may change a mode of anapplication processor from a sleep mode to a wake-up mode, or may searchfor an external device. Throughout the specification, the fact that thefeature (or the pattern) of the raw voice matches the feature (or thepattern) of the reference voice may mean that a similarity between thefeature (or the pattern) of the raw voice and the feature (or thepattern) of the reference voice is equal to or greater than apredetermined value.

The first device 100 may receive a raw voice of the user of the firstdevice 100 via a microphone, wherein the raw voice is repeatedlybroadcast by the second device 200. First device 100 may compare afeature (or a pattern) of a reference voice with a feature (or apattern) of the raw voice that is received from the second device 200.When the feature (or the pattern) of the raw voice matches the feature(or the pattern) of the reference voice, the first device 100 mayperform a pre-set operation. The second device 200 may detect arecognition target period of a raw voice by performing end pointdetection, wherein the raw voice is input by the user of the firstdevice 100, and may extract a feature (or a pattern) of the raw voicefrom the recognition target period. The second device 200 may broadcastvoice feature information about the extracted raw voice. The firstdevice 100 may receive the voice feature information from the seconddevice 200. The first device 100 may compare the voice featureinformation with a feature (or a pattern) of a reference voicepreviously stored in the first device 100. When the feature (or thepattern) of the raw voice of the voice feature information matches thefeature (or the pattern) of the reference voice, the first device 100may perform a pre-set operation.

The first device 100 may include a plurality of pieces of referencevoice information. For example, when first reference voice informationof a first user and second reference voice information of a second userare input, the first device 100 may perform a pre-set operation.

The first device 100 may store reference voice information (a pre-setraw voice) of a user (e.g., a person named “Cheolsoo”) in a memory. Thereference voice information may be a raw voice of the user or voicefeature information that is extracted from the raw voice of the user.For example, the reference voice information may correspond to a voiceof the user (Cheolsoo) who actually says “Cheolsoo phone”. When thefirst device 100 receives the reference voice information via themicrophone, the first device 100 may perform a pre-set operation. Forexample, the reference voice information that is input to the firstdevice 100 may allow the application processor of the first device 100to change its mode into a wake-up mode or may include a wake-up voicecapable of unlocking a screen lock. Although the first device 100 is ina screen lock mode or the application processor is in a sleep mode, thefirst device 100 may activate the microphone. The microphone may beconnected to a sensor hub of the first device 100.

The sensor hub of the first device 100 may recognize whether the voice“Cheolsoo phone” is received as the reference voice information via themicrophone. When the sensor hub of the first device 100 recognizes thereception of the reference voice information, the sensor hub of thefirst device 100 may activate the application processor or may unlockthe screen lock mode, so that the sensor hub of the first device 100 maycontrol the first device 100 to transit to a state in which the user mayuse the first device 100. Where the user (e.g., Cheolsoo) of the firstdevice 100 attempts to receive an inter-device communication connectionservice by connecting communication to the second device 200, asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 5, the user (e.g., Cheolsoo) maysay “Cheolsoo phone” as the wake-up voice of the first device 100 andmay input “Cheolsoo phone” to the second device 200. The button 520 ofFIG. 5 may correspond to an application that provides the inter-devicecommunication connection service. Also, the button 520 may correspond toan application capable of performing or controlling a voice recognitionservice in the second device 200. When the second device 200 receivesthe voice “Cheolsoo phone”, the second device 200 may broadcast (ortransmit) at least one of voice information (a raw voice or voicefeature information) corresponding to the voice “Cheolsoo phone” andcommunication connection information for connecting communication to thesecond device 200.

The first device 100 that is positioned around the second device 200 mayrecognize reception of voice information that corresponds to the wake-upvoice “Cheolsoo phone” via the microphone and the sensor hub, and mayswitch a mode of the application processor into the wake-up mode. Also,the first device 100 may transmit a communication connection request tothe second device 200 by using the communication connection information.The first device 100 may establish a communication link with the seconddevice 200 according to a communication connection procedure that ispre-set, based on the communication connection information.

A process in which the first device 100 performs a pre-set operationaccording to a result of comparison between received voice informationand reference voice information will now be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method of establishing, by the first device100 and the second device 200, a communication link for exchanging datavia sound communication. In operation S810, the second device 200 mayobtain speaker's voice information. For example, a user of the firstdevice 100 may vocally input a predetermined expression into amicrophone of the second device 200. The predetermined expression may bea title that is previously known to the first device 100. Thepredetermined expression may be an expression that the user of the firstdevice 100 used to previously train the device 100 voice recognitionunit and to facilitate speaker independent recognition. Since operationS810 corresponds to operation S210 of FIG. 2, detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted here. In operation S820, the second device 200 maybroadcast a sound signal including the speaker's voice information andcommunication connection information of the second device 200. The soundsignal that is broadcast by the second device 200 may be a raw voicethat is input by a speaker or may be voice feature information extractedfrom the raw voice that is input by the speaker.

The second device 200 may broadcast the sound signal to the outside viaa speaker, wherein the speaker's voice information and the communicationconnection information of the second device 200 are inserted into thesound signal. For example, the second device 200 may insert thespeaker's voice information and the communication connection informationof the second device 200 into an inaudible range or an audible range ofthe sound signal. The second device 200 may transform (e.g.,down-conversion) a frequency band of the voice signal including voiceinformation into a relatively low frequency band. For example, thesecond device 200 may insert modulated communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 into a first period (e.g., a bandbetween about 18 kHz and about 21 kHz) of the sound signal, and mayinsert the speaker's voice information into a second period (a bandequal to or less than 16 kHz) of the sound signal.

In operation S830, the first device 100 may receive the sound signal viaa microphone of the first device 100, wherein the sound signal includesthe voice information broadcast by the second device 200. In operationS840, the first device 100 may perform speaker dependent recognitionbased on the speaker's voice information included in the sound signal.For example, the microphone of the first device 100 may be connected toa sensor hub of the first device 100 and may remain active. The sensorhub may obtain, via the microphone, the speaker's voice informationincluded in the sound signal that is broadcast by the second device 200.The sensor hub may compare reference voice information with thespeaker's voice information. For example, the sensor hub may determinewhether a similarity between the speaker's voice information and thereference voice information is equal to or greater than a predeterminedvalue (e.g., about 97%). As a result of the determination, when thesimilarity between the speaker's voice information and the referencevoice information is equal to or greater than the predetermined value(e.g., about 97%), the sensor hub may wake up an application processorin a sleep mode. On the other hand, when the similarity between thespeaker's voice information and the reference voice information is lessthan the predetermined value (e.g., about 97%), the sensor hub may notwake up the application processor in a sleep mode. The applicationprocessor may remain in the sleep mode, so that the first device 100 mayreduce power consumption by the application processor.

In another embodiment, the application processor of the first device 100may receive, via the microphone, the speaker's voice information that isbroadcast by the second device 200, and may determine whether thesimilarity between the speaker's voice information and the referencevoice information is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

In operation S850, when the first device 100 succeeds in performing thespeaker dependent recognition, the first device 100 may transmit acommunication connection request to the second device 200 based oncommunication connection information of the second device 200. Forexample, when the sensor hub wakes up the application processor in thesleep mode, the application processor may demodulate modulatedcommunication connection information of the second device 200. Theapplication processor may transmit a communication connection request tothe second device 200 by using demodulated communication connectioninformation of the second device 200. In another embodiment, the sensorhub may demodulate the modulated communication connection information ofthe second device 200. In operation S860, the second device 200 mayreceive the communication connection request and may transmit anacceptance message with respect to the communication connection request.Afterward, in operation S870, the first device 100 and the second device200 may establish a communication link.

The second device 200 may not approve the communication connectionrequest according to a first connection method of the first device 100but may select another connection method (a second connection method)and may transmit a communication connection request to the first device100. Here, when the first device 100 transmits an acceptance messagewith respect to the communication connection request according to thesecond connection method to the second device 200, the first device 100and the second device 200 may establish a communication link accordingto the second connection method.

When the user of the first device 100 vocally inputs a predeterminedexpression into the second device 200, the first device 100 and thesecond device 200 may automatically establish a communication link byusing a voice recognition technology. The order of operations S810through S870 may be changed or some operations may be skipped.Hereinafter, a process in which the second device 200 broadcasts (ortransmits) voice information via BLE communication will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method of establishing, by the first device100 and the second device 200, a communication link for exchanging datavia BLE communication. In operation S910, the second device 200 mayobtain speaker's voice information. Operation S910 corresponds tooperation S810 of FIG. 8, thus, detailed descriptions thereof areomitted. In operation S920, the second device 200 may broadcast anadvertising packet, including the speaker's voice information andcommunication connection information of the second device 200, via theBLE communication. The second device 200 may configure the advertisingpacket in response to speaker voice data input and may broadcast theadvertising packet, or may broadcast the advertising packet when a BLEdevice is positioned around the second device 200. For example, thesecond device 200 may broadcast an advertising packet including voiceinformation in response to the second device 200 scanning the firstdevice 100 that broadcasts ID information, capability information, forexample via the BLE communication.

In operation S930, the first device 100 may detect the occurrence of apredetermined event. Here, the predetermined event may trigger scanningan external device. For example, the predetermined event may include anevent in which a value of magnetic field information obtained via amagnetic sensor is equal to or greater than a value of pre-set referencemagnetic field information, an event in which color information obtainedvia an RGB sensor matches reference color information, or an event inwhich sound information obtained via a microphone matches referencesound information. A detailed description of the predetermined eventwill be provided below with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

In operation S940, when the first device 100 detects the occurrence ofthe predetermined event, the first device 100 may scan the second device200. For example, when the value of the magnetic field informationobtained via the magnetic sensor is equal to or greater than the valueof the pre-set reference magnetic field information, the first device100 may perform a BLE scan. In this case, the first device 100 performsthe BLE scan when a device that includes a magnetic substance (e.g., aspeaker) is around the first device 100, thus, the first device 100 maynot waste power. In another embodiment, the first device 100 mayperiodically perform the BLE scan, regardless of the occurrence of thepredetermined event.

In operation S950, the first device 100 may receive the advertisingpacket that is broadcast by the second device 200. In operation S960,the first device 100 may perform speaker dependent recognition, based onthe voice information included in the advertising packet. A sensor hubof the first device 100 may be connected to a BLE communication unit.The sensor hub may receive, via the BLE communication unit, thespeaker's voice information and the communication connection informationof the second device 200 that are broadcast by the second device 200.The sensor hub may compare reference voice information with thespeaker's voice information. For example, the sensor hub may determinewhether a similarity between the speaker's voice information and thereference voice information is equal to or greater than a predeterminedvalue (e.g., about 97%).

In another embodiment, an application processor of the first device 100may receive, via the BLE communication unit, the speaker's voiceinformation that is broadcast by the second device 200, and maydetermine whether the similarity between the speaker's voice informationand the reference voice information is equal to or greater than apredetermined value. In operation S970, when the first device 100succeeds in performing the speaker dependent recognition, the firstdevice 100 may establish a communication link with the second device200, based on the communication connection information of the seconddevice 200 that is included in the advertising packet.

For example, the sensor hub of the first device 100 may demodulatemodulated communication connection information of the second device 200.The sensor hub of the first device 100 may transmit a communicationconnection request to the second device 200 by using demodulatedcommunication connection information (e.g., a MAC address, informationabout a communication method that is supported by the second device 200,for example) of the second device 200. In another embodiment, theapplication processor of the first device 100 may demodulate themodulated communication connection information of the second device 200.The second device 200 broadcasts the advertising packet via the BLEcommunication. The second device 200 may broadcast the speaker's voiceinformation and the communication connection information of the seconddevice 200 via other short range communication (e.g., Ant+communication, NFC, ZigBee, for example).

An order of operations S910 through S970 may be changed or someoperations may be skipped. Hereinafter, a predetermined event thatcontrols the first device 100 to scan the second device 200 will now bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. FIG. 10 illustrates anexample in which the first device 100 scans the second device 200 basedon a value of a magnetic sensor. As illustrated in FIG. 10( a), thefirst device 100 may include a magnetic sensor 151. The magnetic sensor151 is a sensor that senses a magnetic field. The magnetic sensor 151may include three sensors that measure the intensity of a magnetic fieldin X, Y, and Z-axes directions. Thus, the first device 100 may obtainmagnetic field information via the magnetic sensor 151.

The magnetic field information may be information about a direction of amagnetic field, the intensity of the magnetic field, a magnetic force, achange in the magnetic field, a change in the magnetic force, forexample. Also, the magnetic field information may be an integer value ofthe intensity of the magnetic field or magnetic force, or a vectorhaving a direction and intensity.For example, the magnetic field information may correspond to a totalsum of three vectors (√{square root over (x²+y²+z²)}), a size of avector from among the X, Y, and Z-axes (|x|, |y|, or z|), or a total sumof two vectors from among the X, Y, and Z-axes (√{square root over(x²+y²)}, (x²+z² , or √{square root over (y²+z²)}). Also, the magneticfield information may correspond to a total sum obtained by adding thesquares of three vectors.

The first device 100 may obtain magnetic field information periodically(e.g., 0.1 second), by using the magnetic sensor 151. The first device100 may obtain magnetic field information via the magnetic sensor 151when a movement of the first device 100 is detected. When the firstdevice 100 is located at a pre-set area (e.g., a house or office), themagnetic field information may be obtained via the magnetic sensor 151.When the first device 100 obtains the magnetic field information via themagnetic sensor 151, the first device 100 may consider angular velocityinformation detected by a gyroscope and acceleration informationdetected by an accelerometer sensor. When the value of the magneticsensor 151 is measured, the first device 100 may be in motion, so thatthe first device 100 may further consider the angular velocityinformation and the acceleration information so as to obtain accuratemagnetic field information.

The first device 100 may compare the magnetic field information obtainedvia the magnetic sensor 151 with pre-set reference magnetic fieldinformation. The first device 100 may determine whether a value of themagnetic field information obtained via the magnetic sensor 151 is equalto or greater than a value of the reference magnetic field information.

The reference magnetic field information according to the presentembodiment may be information about the intensity of a magnetic field, amagnetic force, or a critical value that is a reference for switching aninactive state of a communication unit into an active state. Forexample, the reference magnetic field information may be set to 180 μT.The reference magnetic field information may be set by a user, the firstdevice 100, or an external server.in response to the magnetic field information obtained via the magneticsensor 151 being less than the value of the reference magnetic fieldinformation (e.g., 180 μT), the first device 100 may continuouslymonitor magnetic field information of its vicinity via the magneticsensor 151 while the first device 100 maintains its communication unitin an inactive state.As illustrated in FIG. 10( b), when the value of the magnetic fieldinformation obtained via the magnetic sensor 151 is equal to or greaterthan the value of the reference magnetic field information, the firstdevice 100 may scan the second device 200 by using at least onecommunication unit. For example, the first device 100 may receive, viathe BLE communication unit, information (e.g., speaker's voiceinformation, communication connection information of the second device200, for example) that is broadcast by the second device 200. The firstdevice 100 may recognize the second device 200 by analyzing theinformation. The first device 100 performs a BLE scan only when thesecond device 200 that includes a magnetic substance (e.g., a speaker)is around the first device 100, and thus, the first device 100 mayreduce power consumption.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example in which the first device 100 scans thesecond device 200 based on a value of an RGB sensor.

The mobile terminal that is the second device 200 may include alight-emitting diode (LED) or a display unit that displays an image.As illustrated in FIG. 11( a), the first device 100 may obtain colorinformation via an RGB sensor 159. The RGB sensor 159 may indicate asensor for detecting a color (such as ambient blue 1120) emitted from alight source. When a light sensor is to analyze the three primary colorsof light, the RGB sensor 159 may be a light sensor.The color information may include, but is not limited to, a color (e.g.,red, green, blue, white), a color intensity value (e.g., between about 0and about 255) and color pattern information, for example.The first device 100 may compare the color information obtained via theRGB sensor 159 with pre-set reference color information. For example,the first device 100 may determine a similarity between the colorinformation obtained via the RGB sensor 159 and the pre-set referencecolor information.The reference color information may be information about the color(e.g., blue, green, red, white), information about the color intensityvalue (e.g., between about 0 and about 255), or the color patterninformation. For example, the reference color information may be apattern in which a color change value is greater than or equal to acritical value in the order of red, green, and blue.

The reference color information may be set by a user, the first device100, or an external server. The first device 100 may extract thereference color information from the memory and may compare theextracted reference color information with the color informationobtained via the RGB sensor 159. When a similarity between the colorinformation obtained via the RGB sensor 159 with the reference colorinformation that may change in order of, for example, red→green→blue, isless than a predetermined value (e.g., 90%), the first device 100 maycontinuously monitor color information in its vicinity via the RGBsensor 159 while the first device 100 maintains its communication unitin an inactive state. As illustrated in FIG. 11( b), when the similaritybetween the color information obtained via the RGB sensor 159 and thereference color information is equal to or greater than a predeterminedvalue (e.g., 90%), the first device 100 may scan the second device 200by using at least one communication unit. For example, when thesimilarity between the color information obtained via the RGB sensor 159and the reference color information is equal to or greater than thepredetermined value (e.g., 90%), the first device 100 may determine thata predetermined event related to a device scan occurs. When the seconddevice 200 broadcasts speaker's voice information and communicationconnection information of the second device 200, the second device 200may output light via the display unit (e.g., an LED). In this case, thefirst device 100 may obtain the color information via the RGB sensor159. When the color information obtained via the RGB sensor 159 that maychange in order of, for example, red→green→blue, matches the referencecolor information that may change in order of, for example,red→green→blue, the first device 100 may switch a state of thecommunication unit from the inactive state to an active state. The firstdevice 100 may receive, via the communication unit switched to theactive state, the speaker's voice information and the communicationconnection information of the second device 200 that are broadcast bythe second device 200.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method of establishing, by the first device100 and the second device 200, a communication link for exchanging datavia sound communication and BLE communication, according to inventionprinciples.

In operation S1210, the second device 200 may obtain speaker's voiceinformation. Since operation S1210 corresponds to operation S810 of theflowchart shown in FIG. 8, detailed descriptions thereof are omittedhere.

In operation S1220, the second device 200 may broadcast a sound signalincluding the speaker's voice information. In operation S1230, thesecond device 200 may broadcast an advertising packet includingcommunication connection information of the second device 200 via theBLE communication. Operations S1220 and S1230 may be concurrently orsequentially performed. Alternatively, operation S1230 may be performedbefore operation S1220.

In operation S1240, the first device 100 may receive the sound signalvia its microphone. In operation S1250, the first device 100 may performspeaker dependent recognition based on the speaker's voice informationincluded in the sound signal. This process is described below withreference to FIG. 13.

As illustrated in FIG. 13( a), a microphone 114 of the first device 100may be connected to a sensor hub 121 and may remain active. In thiscase, the sensor hub 121 may obtain, via the microphone 114, thespeaker's voice information included in the sound signal that isbroadcast by the second device 200. The sensor hub 121 may comparereference voice information with the speaker's voice information. Forexample, the sensor hub 121 may determine whether a similarity betweenthe reference voice information and the speaker's voice information isequal to or greater than a predetermined value (e.g., about 97%). Whenthe similarity between the reference voice information and the speaker'svoice information is less than the predetermined value (e.g., about97%), the first device 100 may continuously monitor sound information ofits vicinity via the microphone 114 while the first device 100 maintainsits communication unit in an inactive state.

As illustrated in FIG. 13( b), when the similarity between the referencevoice information and the speaker's voice information obtained via themicrophone 114 is equal to or greater than the predetermined value(e.g., about 97%), the first device 100 may switch a mode of at leastone communication unit to an active state.

In operation S1260, the first device 100 may scan the second device 200.For example, when the first device 100 succeeds in performing thespeaker dependent recognition (i.e., when the similarity between thereference voice information and the speaker's voice information is equalto or greater than the predetermined value (e.g., about 97%)), the firstdevice 100 may switch a mode of the BLE communication unit to an activestate. The first device 100 may scan the second device 200 by using theBLE communication unit in the active state. The first device 100performs a BLE scan when the first device 100 succeeds in performing thespeaker dependent recognition, and thus, the first device 100 may notwaste power. In operation S1270, the first device 100 may receive theadvertising packet that is broadcast by the second device 200. Inoperation S1280, the first device 100 may establish a bidirectionalcommunication link with the second device 200 by using the communicationconnection information of the second device 200, which is included inthe advertising packet.

The communication link may be established by using the samecommunication method as a communication method by which the first device100 receives advertisement information that is broadcast by the seconddevice 200, or may be established by using a communication method (i.e.,the OOB method) different from the communication method of receivingadvertisement information. Hereinafter, a process in which the firstdevice 100 establishes the communication link by using the OOB methodwill now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 14.

FIG. 14 shows a process flow of a method of establishing, by the firstdevice 100 and the second device 200, a communication link by using theOOB method, according to invention principles. As illustrated in FIG.14( a), the first device 100 and the second device 200 may establish aBluetooth communication link.

In operation S1405, the second device 200 may broadcast a sound signaland/or an advertising packet, which includes speaker's voice informationand communication connection information of the second device 200, byusing the sound output unit and/or the BLE communication unit. Inoperation S1410, the first device 100 may scan the second device 200 byusing the microphone or the BLE communication unit. The first device 100and the second device 200 may establish a sound communication link or aBLE communication link as a first communication link. The first device100 may determine a Bluetooth communication method as a secondcommunication method to exchange data via the first communication link.In operation S1415, the first device 100 may transmit a pairing requestto the second device 200. Here, ‘pairing’ is a process of checking apassword, ID information, security information, authorizationinformation, for example, which are set for mutual communicationconnection between the first device 100 and the second device 200 thatsupport a Bluetooth function.

In operation S1420, the first device 100 may receive a pairing response.The second device 200 in response to the pairing request may transmitpersonal ID information to the first device 100. An example of thepersonal ID information may be a personal identification number (PIN)code. The personal ID information may be created just for a single useor stored in the memory. When personal ID information requested by thefirst device 100 matches the personal ID information received from thesecond device 200, the pairing between the first device 100 and thesecond device 200 may be completed.

In operation S1425, the first device 100 may transmit a Bluetoothconnection request to the second device 200. In operation S1430, thesecond device 200 may respond to the connection request by the firstdevice 100. In this case, the first device 100 may establish a Bluetoothcommunication link with the second device 200. Since the process ofestablishing a Bluetooth communication link is a well-known, detaileddescriptions thereof are omitted here.

As illustrated in FIG. 14( b), both of the first device 100 and thesecond device 200 may establish a WFD communication link. OperationsS1435 and S1440 may correspond to operations S1405 and S1410,respectively. For example, the first device 100 and the second device200 may establish a sound communication link or a BLE communication linkas the first communication link. The first device 100 may determine aWFD communication method as the second communication method to exchangedata via the first communication link. In operation S1445, the firstdevice 100 may scan the second device 200 that includes a WFD function.When the second device 200 is scanned, the first device 100 may beconnected to the second device 200 through forming of a group(one-to-one or one-to-many topology). In operation S1450, the firstdevice 100 may perform the forming of a group with the second device200. The first device 100 and the second device 200 may negotiate so asto determine a peer-to-peer group owner (P2P GO) and a P2P client thatmay serve major roles of a group, and may set an operating channel to beused in the group. In operation S1455, the first device 100 and thesecond device 200 may perform a Wi-Fi protected setup (WPS). Forexample, the first device 100 and the second device 200 may exchange PINinformation that is input by a device user via a keypad, and may performa setup according to push button selection by a user. In operationS1460, the first device 100 and the second device 200 may establish aWFD communication link. Since the process of establishing a WFDcommunication link is a well-known technology, detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted here.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a method, performed by the second device 200,for extracting control information from speaker's voice information andperforming a function that corresponds to the control information.

In operation S1510, the second device 200 may obtain speaker's voiceinformation. Since operation S1510 corresponds to operation S810 of theflowchart shown in FIG. 8, detailed descriptions thereof are omittedhere.

In operation S1520, the second device 200 may extract controlinformation from the speaker's voice information. The controlinformation may include a command to control at least one of the firstdevice 100 and the second device 200. For example, the controlinformation may include at least one of a control command to receivecontent, a control command to transmit content, a control command totransmit position information, a control command to synchronize aplurality of pieces of data, a control command to switch a mode, and acontrol command to perform screen-mirroring. The second device 200 maycompare the speaker's voice information with a DB including commands,thereby extracting the control information included in the speaker'svoice information. Since operation S1520 corresponds to operation S330of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, detailed descriptions thereof areomitted here. In operation S1530, the second device 200 may broadcastthe speaker's voice information, the control information, andcommunication connection information of the second device 200. Thesecond device 200 may broadcast the speaker's voice information, thecontrol information, and the communication connection information of thesecond device 200 via sound communication (e.g., by using at least oneof an inaudible range or an audible range of a sound signal) and shortrange communication (e.g., BLE communication, Ant+ communication, NFCcommunication, for example). Descriptions about a method, performed bythe second device 200, of broadcasting the advertisement information,are the same as descriptions about operation S220 of the flowchart shownin FIG. 2, and thus are omitted here.

In operation S1540, the first device 100 may receive the speaker's voiceinformation, the control information, and the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 from the second device 200. Forexample, the first device 100 may receive the speaker's voiceinformation, the control information, and the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 via the microphone or the BLEcommunication unit.

In operation S1550, the first device 100 may perform speaker dependentrecognition based on the speaker's voice information. For example, thefirst device 100 may determine whether a similarity between thespeaker's voice information and reference voice information is equal toor greater than a predetermined value (e.g., about 97%).

In operation S1560, when the first device 100 succeeds in performing thespeaker dependent recognition (i.e., when the similarity between thereference voice information and the speaker's voice information is equalto or greater than the predetermined value (e.g., about 97%)), the firstdevice 100 may establish a communication link with the second device 200based on the communication connection information of the second device200. In operation S1570, the first device 100 may perform a functionthat corresponds to the control information received from the seconddevice 200. For example, the first device 100 may prepare to receivepredetermined content via the communication link. When the first device100 receives the predetermined content from the second device 200, thefirst device 100 may display the predetermined content on a screen.Also, the first device 100 may transmit content, which is requested bythe second device 200, to the second device 200 via the communicationlink. In operation S1580, the second device 200 may perform a functioncorresponding to the control information that is extracted from thespeaker's voice information, via the communication link. For example,the second device 200 may transmit the predetermined content, which isselected by a speaker, to the first device 100 via the communicationlink. Also, the second device 200 may receive content from the firstdevice 100 via the communication link.

In an embodiment, the first device 100 may extract control informationfrom speaker's voice information that is transmitted by the seconddevice 200, and the first device 100 may transmit the extracted controlinformation to the second device 200. Alternatively, each of the firstdevice 100 and the second device 200 may extract control informationfrom speaker's voice information.

Hereinafter, an example in which the first device 100 and the seconddevice 200 perform a control command included in a speaker's voice via acommunication link will now be described in detail with reference toFIG. 16. FIG. 16 illustrates an example in which the first device 100and the second device 200 perform a function that corresponds to controlinformation. As illustrated in FIG. 16( a), when a user of the firstdevice 100 inputs a voice of ‘Cheolsoo's phone, receive’ into the seconddevice 200, the second device 200 may broadcast voice information aboutthe voice of ‘Cheolsoo's phone, receive’ that is input by the user ofthe first device 100, and communication connection information of thesecond device 200. Here, the first device 100 may extract controlinformation indicating ‘receive’ from the voice of ‘Cheolsoo's phone,receive’ that is input by the user, and may transmit the controlinformation indicating ‘receive’ to the second device 200. The firstdevice 100 may perform speaker dependent recognition based on the voiceinformation received from the second device 200. Since a pre-setexpression (‘Cheolsoo's phone’) said by the voice of the user of thefirst device 100 is input, the speaker dependent recognition maysucceed. In this case, the first device 100 may establish acommunication link with the second device 200 based on the communicationconnection information of the second device 200.

As illustrated in FIG. 16( b), when the second device 200 receives thevoice of ‘Cheolsoo's phone, receive’, the second device 200 mayinterpret the control information indicating ‘receive’ as a controlcommand to transmit currently-reproduced content to the first device100. Thus, the second device 200 may check content information about thecurrently-reproduced content and may transmit a data share requestincluding the content information to the first device 100. The contentinformation may include, but is not limited to, a content type, acontent ID value, a content size, and content metadata. When the firstdevice 100 transmits an acceptance message with respect to the datashare request to the second device 200, the second device 200 maytransmit the content to the first device 100. Here, the first device 100may prepare to receive the content, based on the control informationindicating ‘receive’ and the content information that are transmitted bythe second device 200, and may receive the content from the seconddevice 200. When the first device 100 receives the data share request,the first device 100 may display, on its screen, information about thesecond device 200 or a transmitter, the content information, and a GUIincluding items “Accept”, “Ignore”, for example, requesting a user toconfirm whether or not to receive content.

As illustrated in FIG. 16( c), when the speaker dependent recognitionsucceeds, the first device 100 may switch a screen lock mode to a screenunlock mode. Thus, although the first device 100 does not receive aseparate input from the user, the first device 100 may display thecontent from the second device 200 on the screen or may reproduce thecontent. A speaker may transmit content that is reproduced in the seconddevice 200 to the first device 100 by vocally input of a predeterminedexpression to the second device 200.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a method of broadcasting speaker's voiceinformation when the first device 200 fails to perform speaker dependentrecognition. In operation S1710, the first device 100 may receivespeaker's voice information. For example, a microphone of the firstdevice 100 may be connected to a sensor hub of the first device 100 andmay remain active. The sensor hub of the first device 100 may obtain,via the microphone, the speaker's voice information included in a soundsignal that is broadcast. In another embodiment, when at least one shortrange communication unit is connected to the sensor hub of the firstdevice 100 and transits to an active state, the first device 100 mayobtain speaker's voice information that is broadcast, by using the atleast one short range communication unit. In operation S1720, the firstdevice 100 may determine whether a similarity between the speaker'svoice information and predetermined reference voice information is equalto or greater than a predetermined value. For example, the sensor hub ofthe first device 100 may transmit an indication of whether thesimilarity between the speaker's voice information and the referencevoice information is equal to or greater than the predetermined value(e.g., about 97%).

In operation S1730, when the similarity between the speaker's voiceinformation and the reference voice information is less than thepredetermined value, the first device 100 may broadcast the receivedbroadcast speaker's voice information. For example, the first device 100may broadcast a sound signal including the speaker's voice informationby using the sound output unit. Also, the first device 100 may broadcastthe speaker's voice information via short range communication (e.g., BLEcommunication, for example).

In operation S1740, when the similarity between the speaker's voiceinformation and the reference voice information is equal to or greaterthan the predetermined value, the first device 100 may perform a controlcommand included in the speaker's voice information. For example, when apre-trained expression spoken by a pre-trained speaker's voice, isinput, the first device 100 may perform the control command (e.g., toform a communication link, to transmit current position information)that is included in the speaker's voice information.

The first device 100 may extract the control command from the speaker'svoice information. Also, the first device 100 may receive the speaker'svoice information and the control command that is extracted from thespeaker's voice information. When the speaker's voice information fromthe outside matches the reference voice information, the first device100 may recognize that a final destination of the speaker's voiceinformation is the first device 100. Thus, the first device 100 nolonger broadcasts the speaker's voice information and may perform thecontrol command included in the speaker's voice information.

When the received broadcast speaker's voice information does not matchthe reference voice information, the first device 100 may recognize thatthe final destination of the speaker's voice information is not thefirst device 100. Thus, the first device 100 may re-broadcast thespeaker's voice information to the outside. This process will now bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 18.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example in which a speaker searches for aparticular device by using voice information. A first user AA may notexactly know where a tablet PC 1810 of the first user AA is located. Inthis case, the first user AA may input a voice of “AA tab, where areyou?” to a mobile phone 1820 of a second user BB near the first user AA.Here, the AA tab may be a name of the tablet PC 1810 and may be firstreference voice information that is trained to the tablet PC 1810 by thefirst user AA. The mobile phone 1820 of the second user BB may broadcastthe voice of “AA tab, where are you?” or a sound signal includingfeature information about the voice of “AA tab, where are you?”. Here,the mobile phone 1820 of the second user BB may use an inaudible rangeor an audible range of the sound signal.

A mobile phone 1830 of a third user CC may receive, via a microphone ofthe mobile phone 1830, the sound signal including voice informationindicating “AA tab, where are you?” that is broadcast by the mobilephone 1820 of the second user BB. Since the AA tab does not match thirdreference voice information (e.g., ‘CC phone’) that is trained to themobile phone 1830 by the third user CC, the mobile phone 1830 of thethird user CC may determine that a final destination of the voiceinformation is not the mobile phone 1830. Thus, the mobile phone 1830 ofthe third user CC may re-broadcast the sound signal including the voiceinformation indicating “AA tab, where are you?” by using its soundoutput unit. A TV 1840 of a fourth user dd may receive, via itsmicrophone, the sound signal including the voice information indicating“AA tab, where are you?” that is broadcast by the mobile phone 1830 ofthe third user CC. Since the AA tab does not match fourth referencevoice information (e.g., ‘dd TV’) that is trained to the TV 1840 by thefourth user dd, the TV 1840 of the fourth user dd may determine that thefinal destination of the voice information is not the TV 1840. Thus, theTV 1840 of the fourth user dd may re-broadcast the sound signalincluding the voice information indicating “AA tab, where are you?” byusing its sound output unit. The tablet PC 1810 of the first user AA mayreceive, via its microphone, the sound signal including the voiceinformation indicating “AA tab, where are you?” that is broadcast by themobile phone 1820 of the second user BB or the TV 1840 of the fourthuser dd. Since the AA tab matches the first reference voice information(i.e., ‘AA tab’) that is trained to the tablet PC 1810 by the first userAA, the tablet PC 1810 of the first user AA may determine that the finaldestination of the voice information is the tablet PC 1810.

Thus, the tablet PC 1810 of the first user AA no longer broadcasts thevoice information indicating “AA tab, where are you?” and may perform acontrol command included in the voice information. For example, whencontrol information indicating “where are you?” corresponds to a command‘to transmit its current location or to output an alarm signal’, thetablet PC 1810 may transmit its position information or may output analarm signal to inform its location to the mobile phone 1820 of thesecond user BB.

In the example of FIG. 18, the sound signal including the voiceinformation is relayed between devices of different users. However, inanother embodiment, a sound signal including voice information may berelayed between devices of the same user. For example, when a first uservocally inputs voice information indicating “Watch, where are you?” to amobile phone of the first user, the voice information indicating “Watch,where are you?” may be relayed to a watch of the first user from themobile phone of the first user via a TV of the first user and a cameraof the first user.

Thus, although there is a limit in a distance within which a soundsignal may be delivered via a sound output unit (e.g., a speaker), voiceinformation may be delivered to a distant destination via relaytransmission of a sound signal between devices.

FIGS. 19 and 20 show a structure of the first device 100. Referring toFIG. 19, the first device 100 may include a communication unit 110 and acontrol unit 120 (hereinafter, the processor 120).

As illustrated in FIG. 20, the first device 100 may further include anoutput unit 130, a user input unit 140, a sensing unit 150, and a memory160 in addition to the communication unit 110 and the processor 120. Thecommunication unit 110 may include one or more elements allowingcommunication between the first device 100 and the second device 200 orbetween the first device 100 and a server. For example, thecommunication unit 110 may include a short range communication unit 111,a mobile communication unit 112, a broadcast receiving unit 113, amicrophone 114, and a camera 115. The short range communication unit 111may include, but is not limited thereto, a Bluetooth communication unit,a BLE communication unit, an NFC/RFID unit, a Wi-Fi communication unit,a ZigBee communication unit, an IrDA communication unit, a WFDcommunication unit, a UWB communication unit or an Ant+ communicationunit for example. The short range communication unit 111 may receivespeaker's voice information and communication connection information ofthe second device 200 that are broadcast by the second device 200. Whena predetermined event occurs, the short range communication unit 111 mayscan the second device 200 and may receive the speaker's voiceinformation and the communication connection information of the seconddevice 200. An example of the predetermined event may include, but isnot limited to, an event in which a value of magnetic field informationobtained via a magnetic sensor 151 becomes equal to or greater than avalue of pre-set reference magnetic field information, an event in whichcolor information obtained via the RGB sensor 159 matches referencecolor information, and an event in which sound information obtained viathe microphone 114 matches reference sound information.

The short range communication unit 111 may receive control information,which is extracted from the speaker's voice information, from the seconddevice 200. The short range communication unit 111 may transmit receiveddata to the processor 120. The short range communication unit 111 may beconnected to the sensor hub 121. The mobile communication unit 112exchanges a wireless signal with at least one of a base station, anexternal terminal, and a server on a mobile communication network. Thewireless signal may include various types of data according tocommunication of a sound call signal, a video call signal, or atext/multimedia message. The broadcast receiving unit 113 receives abroadcast signal and/or information related to broadcast from theoutside through a broadcast channel. The broadcast channel may include asatellite channel and a ground wave channel. The first device 100 maynot include the broadcast receiving unit 113. The microphone 114receives an input of an external sound signal and processes the receivedsound signal into electrical sound data. For example, the microphone 114may receive a sound signal transmitted by the second device 200. Thesound signal transmitted by the second device 200 may include, but isnot limited to, the speaker's voice information obtained via amicrophone of the second device 200, ID information of the second device200, state information of the second device 200, and information about acommunication method supported by the second device 200. For example,the sound signal may include control information that is extracted fromthe speaker's voice information. The microphone 114 may transmit theprocessed sound data to the processor 120. According to the presentembodiment, the microphone 114 may be connected to the sensor hub 121.

The camera 115 may obtain an image frame such as a still image or amoving picture via an image sensor in a video call mode or aphotographing mode. An image captured via the image sensor may beprocessed by the processor 120 or a separate image processing unit (notshown). For example, the camera 115 may recognize a one-dimensionalbarcode, a two-dimensional barcode, for example a QR code, athree-dimensional barcode, a color code, a gray code, which aredisplayed on the screen of the second device 200.

The communication unit 110 may transmit a communication connectionrequest to the second device 200, based on the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200. The communication unit 110 mayreceive an acceptance message with respect to the communicationconnection request from the second device 200. The communication unit110 may receive content from the second device 200 via a communicationlink. The communication unit 110 may transmit content to the seconddevice 200 via a communication link. Also, the communication unit 110may transmit position information of the first device 100 to the seconddevice 200. The processor 120 controls operations by the first device100. For example, the processor 120 executes programs stored in thememory 160 so as to control the communication unit 110, the output unit130, the user input unit 140, the sensing unit 150, the memory 160, forexample. The processor 120 may compare the speaker's voice informationreceived via the communication unit 110 with pre-stored reference voiceinformation. When a similarity between the speaker's voice informationand the reference voice information is equal to or greater than apredetermined value, the processor 120 may establish a communicationlink with the second device 200 by using the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200.

When the similarity between the speaker's voice information and thereference voice information is less than the predetermined value, theprocessor 120 may control the communication unit 110 to broadcast thespeaker's voice information to the outside.

The processor 120 may perform a function corresponding to the controlinformation that is extracted from the speaker's voice information. Thefunction may include at least one of a function to receive content, afunction to transmit content, a function to transmit positioninformation, a function to synchronize a plurality of pieces of data, afunction to switch a mode, and a function to perform screen-mirroring.When the similarity between the speaker's voice information and thereference voice information is equal to or greater than thepredetermined value, the processor 120 may switch a screen lock mode toa screen unlock mode. The processor 120 may include the sensor hub 121of the SSP. The sensor hub 121 may be embodied by hardware or software,or be a combination of hardware and software. For example, the sensorhub 121 may include a micro-control unit (MCU). The sensor hub 121 maybe connected to the sensing unit 150 and may collect sensing informationfrom the sensing unit 150. For example, the sensor hub 121 may obtainmagnetic field information detected by the magnetic sensor 151.

The sensor hub 121 may compare the magnetic field information obtainedvia the magnetic sensor 151 with pre-set reference magnetic fieldinformation. When the magnetic field information obtained via themagnetic sensor 151 is equal to or greater than the pre-set referencemagnetic field information, the sensor hub 121 may wake up anapplication processor (AP) 123 from a sleep mode. While monitoring colorinformation detected by the RGB sensor 159, the sensor hub 121 mayswitch the sleep mode of the AP 123 to a wake-up mode when a similaritybetween the color information and reference color information is equalto or greater than a predetermined value (e.g., about 90%). The sensorhub 121 may be connected to the communication unit 110. While the sensorhub 121 monitors voice information that is received via thecommunication unit 110, when pre-trained reference voice information isreceived, the sensor hub 121 may wake up the AP 123 from the sleep mode.The SSP will be described below in detail with reference to FIG. 21.

The processor 120 may include the AP 123 and a communication processor(CP) 125. The AP 123 may control the execution of different applicationsstored in the memory 160. For example, when a value of the magneticfield information obtained via the magnetic sensor 151 is equal to orgreater than a value of the pre-set reference magnetic fieldinformation, the AP 123 may switch the communication unit 110 from aninactive state to an active state. The AP 123 may switch at least onecommunication unit (e.g., the BLE communication unit) from an inactivestate to an active state. Also, the AP 123 may demodulate the voiceinformation received via the communication unit 110 in the active stateand/or may demodulate modulated data when the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200 is demodulated.

The output unit 130 may output an audio signal, a video signal, or avibration signal and may include a display unit 131, a sound output unit132, a vibration motor 133, for example. The display unit 131 displaysinformation processed by the first device 100. For example, the displayunit 131 may display a UI or a GUI related to a call when in a callmode. When the scanning of the second device 200 fails, the display unit131 may display on the screen a message indicating the connection (orscanning) failure. Also, the display unit 131 may provide on the screencontent received from the second device 200. When the display unit 131and a touch pad form a touch screen in a layer structure, the displayunit 131 may be used as an input device in addition to an output device.The display unit 131 may include at least one of a liquid crystaldisplay, a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display, an organiclight-emitting diode display, a flexible display, a 3D display, and anelectrophoretic display. The first device 100 may include two or moredisplay units according to the embodiment type of the first device 100.The two or more display units may be arranged to face each other byusing a hinge.

The sound output unit 132 outputs audio data received from thecommunication unit 110 or stored in the memory 160. Also, the soundoutput unit 132 outputs a sound signal related to a function (e.g., acall signal receiving sound, a message receiving sound, for example)performed by the first device 100. The sound output unit 132 may includea speaker or a buzzer, for example. The sound output unit 132 maybroadcast, to the outside, a sound signal in which the speaker's voiceinformation is inserted. For example, the first device 100 may insertthe speaker's voice information into an inaudible range or an audiblerange of the sound signal and may broadcast the sound signal to whichthe speaker's voice information is inserted. The vibration motor 133 mayoutput a vibration signal. For example, the vibration motor 133 mayoutput a vibration signal corresponding to the output of audio data orvideo data, for example, a call signal receiving sound, a messagereceiving sound, for example Also, the vibration motor 133 may output avibration signal when a touch is input to a touch screen.

The user input unit 140 is a unit via which a user inputs data tocontrol the first device 100. For example, the user input unit 140 maybe a keypad, a dome switch, a touch pad such as a capacitive overlaytype, a resistive overlay type, an infrared beam type, a surfaceacoustic wave type, an integral strain gauge type, a piezoelectric type,for example, a jog wheel, a jog switch, for example, but one or moreembodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

The sensing unit 150 may include at least one of the magnetic sensor151, an acceleration sensor 152, a temperature/humidity sensor 153, aninfrared sensor 154, a gyroscope sensor 155, a position sensor (e.g.,GPS) 156, an air pressure sensor 157, a proximity sensor 158, and theRGB sensor (i.e., a luminance sensor) 159.

The memory 160 may store a program for processing and controlling theprocessor 120 or input/output data (e.g., reference voice information,reference magnetic field information, for example). The memory 160 mayinclude a storage medium of at least one type of a flash memory, a harddisk, a multimedia card micro, a card type memory such as an SD or XDcard memory, random access memory (RAM), static random access memory(SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmableread-only memory (EEPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), amagnetic memory, a magnetic disc, and an optical disc. Also, the firstdevice 100 may run a web storage or a cloud server that performs astorage function of the memory 160 on the Internet.

The programs stored in the memory 160 may be classified into a pluralityof modules according to their functions, for example, into a UI module161, a touch screen module 162, a voice recognition module 163, an alarmmodule 164, for example. The UI module 161 may provide a specialized UIor GUI in connection with the first device 100 for each application. Thetouch screen module 162 may detect a user's touch gesture on the touchscreen and transmit information related to the touch gesture to theprocessor 120. The touch screen module 162 may recognize and analyze atouch code. The touch screen module 162 may be configured by additionalhardware including a controller.

Different sensors may be arranged in or near the touch screen so as todetect a touch or a proximate touch on the touch sensor. An example ofthe sensor to detect the touch on the touch screen may include a tactilesensor. The tactile sensor detects a contact of a specific object atleast as much as a person can detect. The tactile sensor may detectdifferent types of information such as the roughness of a contactsurface, the hardness of the contact object, the temperature of acontact point, for example.

An example of the sensor to detect the touch on the touch screen mayinclude a proximity sensor.

The proximity sensor detects the existence of an object that approachesa predetermined detection surface or that exists nearby, by using aforce of an electro-magnetic field or an infrared ray, without using amechanical contact. Examples of the proximity sensor include atransmission-type photoelectric sensor, a direction reflection-typephotoelectric sensor, a mirror reflection-type photoelectric sensor, ahigh frequency oscillation-type proximity sensor, a capacity-typeproximity sensor, a magnetic proximity sensor, an infrared-typeproximity sensor, for example. The touch gesture (i.e., an input) of theuser may include a tap gesture, a touch & hold gesture, a double tapgesture, a drag gesture, a panning gesture, a flick gesture, a drag &drop gesture, for example.

“Tapping” is a user's motion of touching a screen by using a finger or atouch tool such as an electronic pen and instantly lifting the finger ortouch tool from the screen without moving.

“Touching & holding” is a user's motion of touching a screen by using afinger or a touch tool such as an electronic pen and maintaining theabove touching motion over a critical time (e.g., 2 seconds), aftertouching the screen. For example, a time difference between a touch-intime and a touch-out time is greater than or equal to the critical time,for example, 2 seconds. When a touch input lasts over the critical time,in order to remind the user whether the touch input is tapping ortouching & holding, a feedback signal may be provided in a visual,acoustic, or tactile manner. The critical time may vary according to anembodiment.

“Double tapping” is a user's motion of touching the screen twice byusing the finger or touch tool (such as a stylus pen).

“Dragging” is a user's motion of touching the screen by using the fingeror touch tool and moving the finger or touch tool to another position onthe screen while keeping the touching motion. The dragging motion mayenable the moving or panning motion of an object.

“Panning” is a user's motion of performing a dragging motion withoutselecting an object. Since no object is selected in the panning motion,no object is moved in a page but the page itself is moved on the screenor a group of objects may be moved within a page.

“Flicking” is a user's motion of performing a dragging motion over acritical speed, for example, 100 pixel/s, by using the finger or touchtool. The dragging (panning) motion or the flicking motion may bedistinguished based on whether the moving speed of the finger or touchtool is over the critical speed, for example, 100 pixel/s, or not.

“Dragging & Dropping” is a user's motion of dragging an object to apredetermined position on the screen by using the finger or touch tooland dropping the object at that position.

“Pinching” is a user's motion of moving two fingers touching on thescreen in opposite directions. The pinching motion is a gesture tomagnify (open pinch) or contract (close pinch) an object or a page. Amagnification value or a contraction value is determined according tothe distance between the two fingers.

“Swiping” is a user's motion of touching an object on the screen byusing the finger or touch tool and simultaneously moving the objecthorizontally or vertically by a predetermined distance. A swiping motionin a diagonal direction may not be recognized as a swiping event.

The memory 160 may include the voice recognition module 163 thatrecognizes the voice of a user by using a voice recognition engine andtransmits the recognized voice to the processor 120.

The voice recognition module 163 may determine whether the speaker'svoice information obtained by the first device 100 matches the pre-setreference voice information. The voice recognition module 163 may detecta recognition target period from a voice of a user, may remove a noisecomponent and may extract a voice feature from the recognition targetperiod. The voice recognition module 163 may compare the extracted voicefeature with a voice database and may output an expression having thehighest likelihood as a recognition result. When the voice recognitionmodule 163 recognizes a sentence, not a simple command expression, thevoice recognition module 163 may use a language model. The voicerecognition module 163 may perform isolated word recognition, continuousspeech recognition, continuous speech recognition, keyword recognition,for example. Also, the voice recognition module 163 may perform speakerindependent recognition and speaker dependent recognition. The voicerecognition module 163 may be embodied as hardware or software or may beembodied as combination of hardware and software. The alarm module 164may generate a signal for notifying an occurrence of an event in thefirst device 100. The event occurring in the first device 100 mayinclude, for example, a call signal reception, a message reception, akey signal input, schedule notification, for example. The alarm module164 may output an alarm signal in the form of a video signal via thedisplay unit 131, an alarm signal in the form of an audio signal via thesound output unit 132, or an alarm signal in the form of a vibrationsignal via the vibration motor 133.

The alarm module 164 may have a snooze function. For example, when auser sets an alarm repetition number (e.g., 5 times), or an alarmrepetition interval (e.g., 3 minutes), the alarm module 164 may outputan alarm signal a predetermined number of times (e.g., 5 times), atpredetermined intervals (e.g., 3 minutes).

FIG. 21 shows a data communication protocol of an SSP. The SSP (SeamlessSensing Platform) may include the sensor hub 121 and an SSP manager 122.The sensing unit 150 or the communication unit 110 may be connected tothe sensor hub 121, and the SSP manager 122 may be included in aframework of the AP 123.

The sensor hub 121 may receive, via the communication unit 110,speaker's voice information that is broadcast by the second device 200.Also, the sensor hub 121 may receive, via the communication unit 110,communication connection information of the second device 200 andcontrol information that is extracted from the speaker's voiceinformation. When an event occurs to wake up the AP 123 from a sleepmode (e.g., when the received speaker's voice information matchespre-set reference voice information), the sensor hub 121 may transmit aninterrupt signal to the SSP manager 122 so as to notify the existence ofdata to be transmitted (S10).

The SSP manager 122 may transmit, to the sensor hub 121, a signal thatrequests a type and length of the data to be transmitted by the sensorhub 121 (S20). The sensor hub 121 may transmit, to the SSP manager 122,content regarding the type and length of the data to be transmitted(S30). The SSP manager 122 may transmit a receiving ready message (Startto Read MSG) to the sensor hub 121 (S40). When the sensor hub 121receives the Start to Read MSG, the sensor hub 121 may process stateinformation of the first device 100, the speaker's voice information,the communication connection information of the second device 200, forexample into a pre-agreed packet and may transmit the packet to the SSPmanager 122 (S50). In this case, the AP 123 in the sleep mode wakes up.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of the second device200. The second device 200 may include a communication unit 210, a voicerecognition unit 220, and a control unit 230 (hereinafter, the processor230). The second device 200 may be embodied by more or less elementsthan the above elements. For example, the second device 200 may furtherinclude a display unit 240, a user input unit 250, and a memory 260 inaddition to the communication unit 210, the voice recognition unit 220,and the control unit 230. The communication unit 210 may include one ormore elements allowing communication between the first device 100 andthe second device 200 or between the second device 200 and a server. Forexample, the communication unit 210 may include a microphone 211, asound output unit 212, a short range communication unit 213, and amobile communication unit 214.

The microphone 211 receives an external sound signal as an input andprocesses the received sound signal into electrical voice data. Forexample, the microphone 211 may receive a sound signal transmitted bythe first device 100. The sound signal transmitted by the first device100 may include, but is not limited to, ID information of the firstdevice 100, state information of the first device 100, and informationabout a communication method supported by the first device 100. Themicrophone 211 may receive a speaker' voice as an input. The microphone211 may transmit the processed sound data to the processor 230.

The sound output unit 212 outputs audio data received from the outsideor stored in the memory 260. Also, the sound output unit 212 outputs asound signal related to a function (e.g., a call signal receiving sound,a message receiving sound, for example) performed by the second device200. The sound output unit 212 may include a speaker.

The sound output unit 212 may broadcast a sound signal in whichspeaker's voice information and communication connection information ofthe second device 200 are inserted. For example, the second device 200may insert the speaker's voice information, the ID information of thesecond device 200, the capability information of the second device 200,the information about a communication method preferred by the seconddevice 200, the state information of the second device 200, controlinformation, for example in an inaudible range or an audible range ofthe sound signal, and may broadcast the sound signal to the outside viathe sound output unit 212.

The short range communication unit 213 may include, but is not limitedthereto, a Bluetooth communication unit, a BLE communication unit, anNFC/RFID unit, a Wi-Fi communication unit, a ZigBee communication unit,an IrDA communication unit, a WFD communication unit, a UWBcommunication unit, an Ant+ communication unit, for example. The shortrange communication unit 213 may broadcast the speaker's voiceinformation, the communication connection information of the seconddevice 200, and the control information via short range communication.Also, the short range communication unit 213 may scan an external devicevia short range communication.

The mobile communication unit 214 exchanges a wireless signal with atleast one of a base station, an external terminal, and a server on amobile communication network. The wireless signal may include differenttypes of data according to communication of a sound call signal, a videocall signal, or a text/multimedia message.

The communication unit 210 may receive a communication connectionrequest from the first device 100, based on the communication connectioninformation of the second device 200. The communication unit 210 maytransmit a response message with respect to the communication connectionrequest to the first device 100.

The communication unit 210 may receive content from the first device 100via a communication link. The communication unit 210 may transmitcontent to the first device 100 via a communication link. Also, thecommunication unit 210 may receive position information of the firstdevice 100 from the first device 100.

The voice recognition unit 220 may detect a recognition target periodfrom a voice of a user, may remove a noise component from therecognition target period and may extract a voice feature from therecognition target period. The voice recognition unit 220 may comparethe extracted voice feature with a voice database and may output anexpression having the highest likelihood as a recognition result. Whenthe voice recognition unit 220 recognizes a sentence, not a simplecommand expression, the voice recognition unit 220 may use a languagemodel.

The voice recognition unit 220 may perform isolated word recognition,continuous speech recognition, continuous speech recognition, keywordrecognition, for example. Also, the voice recognition unit 220 mayperform speaker independent recognition and speaker dependentrecognition.

The voice recognition unit 220 may extract the control information fromthe speaker's voice information input by a speaker. The controlinformation may include at least one of a control command to receivecontent, a control command to transmit content, a control command totransmit position information, a control command to synchronize aplurality of pieces of data, a control command to switch a mode, and acontrol command to perform screen-mirroring.

The voice recognition unit 220 may be embodied as hardware or softwareor may be embodied as combination of hardware and software.

The processor 230 controls operations by the second device 200. Forexample, the processor 230 executes programs stored in the memory 260 soas to control the communication unit 210, the voice recognition unit220, the display unit 240, the user input unit 250, the memory 260, forexample.

The processor 230 may control the communication unit 210 to establish acommunication link with the first device 100. The processor 230 mayperform a function corresponding to the control information that isextracted from the speaker's voice information, via the communicationlink. For example, the processor 230 may transmit content, which isdisplayed on a screen when the speaker's voice information is obtained,to the first device 100 via the communication link.

The display unit 240 displays and outputs information processed by thesecond device 200. For example, the display unit 240 may displayinformation about a recognition result of a speaker's voice, content,state information about connection with the first device 100, forexample.

When the display unit 240 and a touch pad form a touch screen in a layerstructure, the display unit 240 may be used as an input device inaddition to an output device. The display unit 240 may include, but isnot limited to, at least one of a liquid crystal display, a thin filmtransistor-liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diodedisplay, a flexible display, a 3D display, and an electrophoreticdisplay.

The user input unit 250 is a unit via which a user inputs data tocontrol the second device 200.

When the user input unit 250 includes a touch pad, the user input unit250 may detect a user's touch gesture.

The memory 260 may store a program for processing and controlling theprocessor 230 or input/output data (e.g., the ID information, thecapability information, the information about a preferred communicationmethod, the state information). The memory 260 may include a storagemedium of at least one type of a flash memory, a hard disk, a multimediacard micro, a card type memory such as an SD or XD card memory, RAM,SRAM, ROM, EEPROM, PROM, a magnetic memory, a magnetic disc, and anoptical disc.

As described above, according to the one or more of the aboveembodiments of the present invention, a user may easily perform pairingfor a data exchange with a first device of the user by inputting a voicecommand to a device of another user or a second device of the user.Also, according to the one or more of the above embodiments of thepresent invention, a process in which the user selects a device and aprocess in which an acceptance with respect to device pairing isreceived from another user may be performed via one raw voice input, sothat a total number of user inputs may be decreased.

One or more embodiments of the present invention may also be embodied asprogrammed commands to be executed in different computer means, and maybe recorded to a computer-readable recording medium. Thecomputer-readable recording medium may include one or more of theprogrammed commands, data files, data structures, for example. Theprogrammed commands recorded to the computer-readable recording mediummay be configured for one or more embodiments of the present inventionor may be well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Examples ofthe computer-readable recording medium include magnetic media includinghard disks, magnetic tapes, and floppy disks, optical media includingCD-ROMs and DVDs, magneto-optical media including optical disks, and ahardware apparatus designed to store and execute the programmed commandsin ROM, RAM, a flash memory, and the like. Examples of the programmedcommands include not only machine codes generated by a compiler but alsoinclude great codes to be executed in a computer by using aninterpreter. The hardware apparatus may be configured to function as oneor more software modules so as to perform operations of one or moreembodiments of the present invention, or vice versa.

While one or more embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed with reference to the figures, it will be understood by thoseof ordinary skill in the art that different changes in form and detailsmay be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention as defined by the following claims.

The above-described embodiments can be implemented in hardware, firmwareor via the execution of software or computer code that can be stored ina recording medium such as a CD ROM, a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), amagnetic tape, a RAM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magneto-opticaldisk or computer code downloaded over a network originally stored on aremote recording medium or a non-transitory machine readable medium andto be stored on a local recording medium, so that the methods describedherein can be rendered via such software that is stored on the recordingmedium using a general purpose computer, or a special processor or inprogrammable or dedicated hardware, such as an ASIC or FPGA. As would beunderstood in the art, the computer, the processor, microprocessorcontroller or the programmable hardware include memory components, e.g.,RAM, ROM, Flash, etc. that may store or receive software or computercode that when accessed and executed by the computer, processor orhardware implement the processing methods described herein. In addition,it would be recognized that when a general purpose computer accessescode for implementing the processing shown herein, the execution of thecode transforms the general purpose computer into a special purposecomputer for executing the processing shown herein. The functions andprocess steps herein may be performed automatically or wholly orpartially in response to user command. An activity (including a step)performed automatically is performed in response to executableinstruction or device operation without user direct initiation of theactivity. No claim element herein is to be construed under theprovisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element isexpressly recited using the phrase “means for.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of communicating between first andsecond electronic devices, comprising: in a first device, receiving froma second device, voice representative information acquired by the seconddevice, and connection information indicating characteristics ofcommunication to be used in establishing a communication link with thesecond device; comparing the voice representative information withpredetermined reference voice representative information; and inresponse to the comparison, establishing a communication link with thesecond device by using the connection information received from thesecond device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprisesreceiving a sound signal comprising the voice representative informationand the connection information via a microphone of the first device. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein the voice representative information andthe connection information of the second device are inserted into atleast one of an inaudible range and an audible range of the sound signaland are broadcast by the second device.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the receiving comprises receiving the voice representativeinformation and the connection information of the second device via atleast one of, short range communication and mobile communication.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the voice representative informationcomprises at least one of identification (ID) information of the firstdevice, control information for controlling the first device, andcontrol information for controlling the first device and the seconddevice.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the voicerepresentative information comprises receiving at least one of a datarepresenting raw voice representative information and voice featureinformation that is extracted from the raw voice representativeinformation.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing comprisesdetermining whether a similarity between the voice representativeinformation and the reference voice representative information is equalto or greater than a predetermined value.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein, when the similarity is equal to or greater than thepredetermined value, the establishing comprises establishing thecommunication link with the second device, based on the connectioninformation of the second device.
 9. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising, when the similarity is less than the predetermined value,broadcasting the voice representative information received from thesecond device.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the connectioninformation of the second device comprises at least one of, ID(identifier) information of the second device, capability information ofthe second device, state information of the second device, informationidentifying a communication method preferred by the second device, andservice ID information.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein theestablishing comprises: transmitting a connection request to the seconddevice; and receiving an acceptance message in response to theconnection request.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, from the second device, control information that is extractedfrom the voice representative information; and performing a function inresponse to the control information.
 13. The method of claim 12, whereinthe control information comprises at least one of a control command toacquire content, a control command to transmit content, a controlcommand to transmit position information, a control command tosynchronize a plurality of pieces of data, a control command to switch amode, and a control command to perform screen-mirroring.
 14. The methodof claim 1, further comprising, switching a screen lock mode of thefirst device to a screen unlock mode in response to the comparison. 15.A method of communicating between first and second electronic devices,comprising: in a second device, acquiring voice representativeinformation; broadcasting the voice representative information andconnection information of the second device indicating characteristicsof communication to be used in establishing a communication link withthe second device; receiving a communication connection request from thefirst device that has received the voice representative information andthe connection information, from the second device; and establishing acommunication link with the first device, in response to the connectionrequest and the characteristics of communication.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the broadcasting comprises periodically broadcasting asound signal comprising the voice representative information and theconnection information of the second device.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the broadcasting comprises broadcasting the sound signal byinserting the voice representative information and the connectioninformation of the second device into at least one of an inaudible rangeand an audible range of the sound signal.
 18. The method of claim 15,wherein the broadcasting comprises broadcasting the voice representativeinformation and the connection information of the second device via atleast one of short range communication and mobile communication.
 19. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the acquiring comprises: receiving raw voicerepresentative information via a microphone of the second device; andanalyzing the raw voice representative information and extracting voicefeature information from the raw voice representative information. 20.The method of claim 15, wherein the broadcasting comprises broadcastingat least one of raw voice representative information and voice featureinformation extracted from the raw voice.
 21. The method of claim 15,wherein the receiving comprises receiving the connection request fromthe first device in response to a result of comparing, by the firstdevice, the voice representative information with reference voicerepresentative information that is stored in the first device.
 22. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising: extracting control informationfrom the voice representative information; and transmitting the controlinformation to the first device.
 23. The method of claim 22, furthercomprising performing a function in response to the control informationvia the communication link.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein theperforming of the function comprises transmitting content to the firstdevice via the communication link, wherein the content is displayed on ascreen of the second device when the voice representative information isobtained.
 25. A first device that communicates with a second device, thefirst device comprising: a communication unit for receiving voicerepresentative information that is obtained by the second device, andconnection information indicating characteristics of communication to beused in establishing a communication link with the second device, fromthe second device; and a control unit for comparing the voicerepresentative information with pre-stored reference voicerepresentative information, and in response to the comparison,establishing a communication link with the second device by using theconnection information received from the second device.
 26. The firstdevice of claim 25, wherein the communication unit comprises amicrophone for receiving a sound signal comprising the voicerepresentative information and the connection information of the seconddevice.
 27. The first device of claim 26, wherein the control unitcomprises a sensor hub connected with the microphone of the firstdevice, and an application processor, wherein the sensor hub comparesthe voice representative information with pre-stored reference voicerepresentative information, and switches a sleep mode of the applicationprocessor to a wake-up mode in response to the comparison, and whereinthe application processor in the wake-up mode controls the communicationunit to establish a communication link with the second device by usingthe connection information of the second device.
 28. The first device ofclaim 25, wherein the communication unit comprises a short rangecommunication unit for receiving the voice representative informationand the connection information of the second device via short rangecommunication.
 29. The first device of claim 25, wherein, when asimilarity between the voice representative information and thereference voice representative information is equal to or greater than apredetermined value, the control unit establishes the communication linkwith the second device by using the connection information of the seconddevice.
 30. The first device of claim 25, wherein, when the similaritybetween the voice representative information and the reference voicerepresentative information is less than a predetermined value, thecontrol unit controls the communication unit to broadcast the voicerepresentative information received from the second device.
 31. Thefirst device of claim 25, wherein the communication unit receives, fromthe second device, control information that is extracted from the voicerepresentative information, and wherein the control unit performs afunction that corresponds to the control information.
 32. A seconddevice for communication with a first device, the second devicecomprising: a microphone for receiving raw voice representativeinformation; a voice recognition unit for obtaining voice representativeinformation by analyzing the raw voice representative information; acommunication unit for broadcasting the voice representative informationand connection information indicating characteristics of communicationto be used in establishing a communication link with the second device,from the second device, and for receiving a connection request from thefirst device that has received the voice representative information andthe connection information; and a control unit for establishing acommunication link with the first device, in response to the connectionrequest and the characteristics of communication.
 33. A non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program forexecuting the method of claim 1, by using a computer.